Return (Lady of Toryn trilogy) by Charity Santiago

Author:Charity Santiago
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-05-23T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Tainted Blood

"Ungh," Ashlyn groaned, mashing her cheek into her pillow. The air was cold, colder than she was accustomed to, anyway, and she'd managed to kick off her blanket at some point during the night. Keeping her eyes shut and refusing to acknowledge that she was waking up, she fumbled around in front of her, looking for the woolly blanket she had bought from an old lady in Landi a year or so ago.

Instead of soft wool, though, her hand settled on something warm. And firm.

Er…wait a minute. It was all coming back now.

"You're finally awake," Skye said from beside her, amusement in his tone.

Ashlyn pried one eye open and looked at where her fingers had ended up. "Heh," she said weakly, removing her hand from Skye's thigh. "Um, sorry."

Mental note: no touching of Skye. Ever again.

Skye shrugged, apparently deciding to pretend like he hadn't noticed her shameless groping. "How are you feeling?"

Ashlyn rolled onto her back, blew out a breath. Her stomach was still roiling a little, but it wasn't horrible. "I'm better, I guess." Belatedly she noticed the presence of a soft pillow, and glanced quizzically at Skye. Traditionally, Toryn slept on thin rugs on the floor.

"I couldn't stand seeing you bang your head on that useless mat anymore," he replied. "There are a few traditions around here that I just don’t get."

"Me, too." Ashlyn stared at the ceiling of her house- her house, she realized, looking much the same as she had left it. Well, the ceiling anyway.

She frowned, noticing also that she was wearing one of her old kimonos. (It was actually a little tight across the chest area, which pleased her immensely, although she'd never admit it.)

"Did you bring me here?" she asked curiously. Did you change my clothes too? Please say no.

Skye shifted, his boots clunking on the solid wooden floor as he stretched his legs out in front of him. "Actually, you brought yourself here. Don't you remember?"

"Not really." She screwed up her eyebrows as she tried to recall. "I puked on Tag's boots, and then…um…"

"Then you announced to the world that you were done with being polite, and you were going to sleep." He shifted, looking irritated with the available seating options. "You dragged me in here, babbling on about how we weren't going to be out of each other's sight at any point, not even if you had to handcuff yourself to me during your baths."

"Oh, gods." Ashlyn rubbed at her forehead, trying to cover her embarrassment. "You're kidding me, right?"

Giving up on finding a comfortable spot, he settled back against the wall and grinned. "Sorry." He ignored her indignant glare and continued, "Devlyn said you needed your rest. He must have been right, because you changed into…that…and conked out."

Ashlyn's first reaction was that he had just called her kimono a that. Granted, it was pretty old and a little threadbare, but Ashlyn held strong in her belief that kimonos were sexier than lingerie. Her mother had always looked blindingly beautiful in hers.

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